Environews: Alternative to Lake Powell Pipeline

Environmental Politics, Think

Environews: Alternative to Lake Powell Pipeline

Washington County needs water, but not as much as Lake Powell Pipeline advocates claim. A 2015 audit of the Utah Division of Water Resources found that the proposal for a $2.4 billion pipeline is based on faulty data. Using better numbers, Western Resource Advocates have developed a “local waters alternative” to meet projected water needs. The plan shows how better conservation efforts make the expensive, environmentally damaging Lake Powell Pipeline completely unnecessary.

On March 2, the Utah Wilderness Coalition staged a people’s hearing on Congressman Rob Bishop’s (R-UT-1) Public Lands Initiative (PLI), giving a voice to people who were excluded from the official process since PLI hearings were never held on the Wasatch Front where more than 90% of Utah’s population lives…

In March, the Wallace Stegner Center released a fourth report analyzing the transfer of public lands idea, which has this to say: “Respectful dialogue, collaborative relationships, adequate agency funding, and locally supported land exchanges can address many of the problems responsible for frustration over public land management, especially if coupled with programs to help rural communities transition to a more sustainable future…